[lbo-talk] Economy of the Occupation Bulletin 7-8: Breaking the Labor Market—The Welfare to Work Plan in Israel Focus on East Jerusalem

[Bryan Atinsky]

I may have sent a different version of this bulletin a couple of months
ago (a shortened version was used as an article in News from Within),
but this is the latest, unexpurgated version of the economic bulletin of
the AIC.  You can download the PDF version with additional info boxes
and charts and such:

http://alternativenews.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=538&Itemid=70

In July 2005, Israel started the implementation of the Welfare to Work
program, a two-year pilot with an option for a year-long extension. The
plan is the first step in a radical shift in the Israeli labor market,
and in the privatization of employment services.

The program aims to encourage groups who are currently dependent on
Income-Support (the basic form of welfare in Israel ) to find work and
to stop collecting payments from the government. It is currently
implemented in four locations: Hadera, Ashkelon, Nazereth and Jerusalem.

 This paper will examine the implementation of the program, and will
analyze its implications for the Israeli and Palestinian economies. We
will concentrate in particular on the Jerusalem pilot and its effects on
East Jerusalem Palestinians, whose plight in this regard has so far gone
unmentioned in the press.